Injuries among many reasons why Sound Tigers are struggling

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, April 9, 2011

Runs of injuries like that test a team's depth. The Islanders struggled early, but had a second half that makes it look as if their latest rebuilding project may come through.

For the Sound Tigers? The bounce-back didn't come until the season was lost.

The winless streaks piled up, three of the team's four longest streaks in 10 years. They had only three wins in 30 games at one point.

A whole lot of other numbers and reasons went into those streaks, though, such as the franchise's recent emphasis on developing young players over signing veteran AHL free agents. Also not helping the Sound Tigers is the Islanders' difficulty signing premier free agents, which has pushed young players into key NHL roles quickly rather than allowing them to develop in the AHL.

There is no shortage of reasons why the Sound Tigers went into the last weekend of the season fighting to get out of last place in the league.

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This season came from numbers that govern how many players a team can sign, how much a veteran player can make and still move up and down to the AHL, and probably most of all an ever-growing number over 900, representing their injuries.

Any AHL team exists to develop players for its parent, and that's especially true for an owned-and-operated affiliate like the Sound Tigers. Balancing winning and development is sometimes tricky, particularly when top players aren't healthy.

950

When training camp began on Long Island in mid-September, the Islanders' stated goal was a playoff berth.

Within a week, their best defenseman and one of their best forwards were on injured reserve with shoulder injuries. Forward Kyle Okposo didn't return until January. Mark Streit lost the whole season.

Going into their final two games, the Islanders had lost 564 man-games to injury with another 18 guaranteed from players who had been ruled out for the year. AHL teams don't keep official lists, but the Connecticut Media Group's unofficial tally had the Sound Tigers at 355 man-games lost with 15 more ensured in the last three games.

That's over 950 man-games lost between the teams. That's kind of like losing an entire roster for 47 games, and that's also part of the reason why Bridgeport has used 61 players this year. Only four AHL teams in the past 15 years have used more.

"We've got 14 (NHL) contract defensemen, and at this point we have five healthy," Snow said last week. "It's an extraordinarily high number. It goes to show you can never have enough depth at any position, particularly on defense."

These weren't minor absences, and 16 of the Islanders' 46 signed players will miss at least 20 games.

Bridgeport began the season with two veterans on NHL contracts. Andy Hilbert never played with a head injury. Jeremy Yablonski has played just one game since November with a knee injury.

"The silver lining is the opportunity for Travis Hamonic, to see what he could do at the NHL level, which surprised, I think, everybody," Snow said. "Andrew MacDonald, playing north of 24 minutes a game, seized the opportunity."

Sure, lose a few players, and a team can cope. "Absence creates opportunity" and all that. Lose key players up and down the roster of two teams? That tests your depth, and experience helps.

Veterans rule

Most veteran AHL players still want to play in the NHL. They may want one or two more big paydays. Signing them? Sometimes, that can cost extra.

Hershey, for instance, has complemented some excellent, deep Washington drafts with exceptional (and sometimes pricey) veterans like Keith Aucoin, Alexandre Giroux and Boyd Kane, and the Bears have won three of the past five Calder Cups.

Players like that sometimes demand one-way NHL contracts, which guarantee over $500,000, but many sign two-way contracts, which pay at a lower amount while the player is in the AHL. According to CapGeek.com, a Web site that tracks unofficial salary-cap and contract data, Aucoin is earning $300,000 this year to play for Hershey.

The Sound Tigers don't appear to have paid a veteran free agent more than $105,000 over the past several years, though Snow said he's not restrained by that number.

"It's always a fine line you walk when your primary goal is to develop players at the AHL level in Bridgeport," Snow said.

"In particular, you see a player like Rhett Rakhshani make the all-star game, getting off to a great start to his professional career. Travis Hamonic, there for a brief period, but he used his time in Bridgeport to become a solid pro."

Bridgeport's veterans this year were captain Mark Wotton, who is on an AHL contract; Jeremy Colliton, who returned after a year in Sweden; and enforcer Yablonski. Hilbert and Jon Sim were both expected to spend some time with the Sound Tigers, and both signed two-way deals for $105,000 in the AHL But Hilbert missed the whole season, and when the Islanders tried to send Sim down in January for the second time, he left to sign with a team in Switzerland.

"JC spent (much) of the year up top. Sim and Hilbert were gone," Sound Tigers president Howard Saffan said. "(Snow) is very cognizant of the need for leadership in the locker room, for veterans. We just had some bad luck this year."

Still, Scott Reynolds of The Copper & Blue, a Web site covering the Edmonton Oilers, estimated and added up salary data for every AHL team's Clear Day list, the 22 main players eligible to play in the last month of the season. Bridgeport's was the lowest in the league and would have needed a player earning NHL money even to make it to the middle of the pack.

Three key players from last season's Bridgeport team -- Greg Mauldin, Trevor Smith and Jeremy Reich -- got substantial raises beyond $105,000 when they signed with new teams, according to CapGeek.

But as Snow said, the Islanders wanted to leave room for their younger players. And there are a lot of them.

Two players were acquired in trades, though young Tony Romano turned pro as a Sound Tiger in 2009. Four could be termed veteran free agents. Four more were minor-league free agents when they arrived in Bridgeport for the first time.

To compare, when Bridgeport went to the Calder Cup Final in 2002, it did it with only seven Islanders draft picks on a 22-man roster, and one of them was a late-arriving seventh defenseman.

"For us, it's a great environment (for development)," Snow said.

It's not impossible to win with a mix heavy on draft picks: Manchester has a similar ratio, and the Monarchs have been first or second in the Atlantic Division all year. (The Monarchs have stayed healthy.) The draft has been particularly important to the Islanders because they haven't attracted premier NHL free agents.

According to reports, Snow has outbid other teams for free agents who have decided to go elsewhere. Ask a number of people, and you'll probably get that many explanations why the team lingered near the salary floor this season.

So if the Islanders are to find themselves a star, they may have to develop him themselves. Many recent first-round draft picks have been in the top 10 and have moved quickly to the NHL.

That usually leaves lower draft picks to Bridgeport, and picking the 18-year-old players who'll turn into 24-year-old standouts is at best a crap shoot.

Snow gave himself better odds in 2008, when he parlayed the fifth-overall pick into the ninth pick (Josh Bailey) and a slew of other selections. The Islanders had 13 picks in a seven-round draft.

"We have two fabulous draft picks, Aaron Ness and Matt Donovan, that have come here," Saffan said. "Hopefully they'll get to play a full season (next year)."

Six of those 2008 picks played in the NHL this year: Bailey, Hamonic, and even more remarkably, four players from the fifth and sixth rounds: Kevin Poulin, Justin DiBenedetto, Matt Martin, and Jared Spurgeon.

Spurgeon, though, did it with Minnesota after the Islanders chose not to give him an NHL contract. That illustrates one problem with acquiring all those draft picks: Eventually, you've got to sign them.

Over the limit

NHL teams are allowed 50 players under NHL contracts at a time. That may sound like a lot, given a 23-man roster, but there are no exemptions for injuries and few painless ways to clear space on the fly.

A team needs its prospects to make progress, to grow into full-time NHLers or at least serviceable replacement-level players. Pick the wrong prospect, and one of those 50 spots can hamper a team for up to three years.

The Islanders have many of their key NHL players locked up for next year. Saffan hoped that, if the Islanders continue to improve, it will leave players down in Bridgeport longer.

"That will have a trickle-down effect," Saffan said. "The Sound Tigers will get deeper as each year progresses."

The directions Snow takes in assembling next year's rosters may depend, in part, on which amateur players are ready to turn pro, which they sign, and which they let go.

"I'm always looking to get better," Snow said, "whether that's on the ice, in training, the way we prepare for the season. It's something we always analyze over the course of the offseason."

If next year's team doesn't lose 900 man-games to injury, it'll surely be a start.